As a child growing up in the Bronx, Linda Lombardi preferred her basket full of plastic animals to dolls; later in life she gave up a tenured position as a professor to take a zookeeping job, then took a turn as the pets and animals columnist for the Associated Press. And so, having spent much of her life either slaving over animals or writing about how great they are, Lombardi gets her revenge in this somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the less savory aspects of their behavior. And the better their public image is, she notes, the worse their secrets are, from bees who love alcohol (even more than college students do) to rapist dolphins, from violent youth gangs of elephants to indolent, infanticidal lions. Gluttonous, selfish, violent, lustful, and looking out for number one, animals are just like us, reveals Lombardi, who at once makes us feel a little better about humanity's basest impulses and also teaches us a bit more about our furry and feathered friends.

"This book is educational, hilarious, and it makes me wish it was legal to participate in cage fighting with an endangered species."ŚMatthew Inman